Caroline Brown

Gratitude

An interactive light panel that reflects and encourages gratitude

A wall-mounted wood panel, lit from behind by LEDs. Lights are programmed and animated. Capacitive touch sensing allows users to seed the panel with moments of gratitude to inspire later moments of contemplation for each other.

BackgroundAn earlier version of this piece was built as a tool for mourning. This iteration continues the aesthetics of the first project, but aims for a broader context for use, namely gratitude.

Audience
Adults (and possibly families) who want to cultivate a sense of gratitude

User Scenario
While thinking of someone or something she is grateful for, the user will touch the center of any spiral on the panel. A brief pulse of light will shine through the perforations to let her know her input has been noted. After a delay of several hours, a light will appear in the center of the same spiral. Slowly, the whole of the spiral will begin to glow, becoming brighter and brighter, inviting a user (the same user as before or another) to take a moment to contemplate someone or something he or she is grateful for. In my experience, contemplating one thing I am grateful for often reminds me of other reasons I feel gratitude. As the spiral begins to fade, the user has the opportunity to note another moment of gratitude by touching another spiral. In this way, I hope to allow multiple users to inspire a sense of gratitude in each other.

Conclusion
The capSense library for Arduino allowed me to incorporate a very subtle way of interacting with the piece, but capacitive touch sensing can very unpredictable. This piece is an exercise in continual recalibration and troubleshooting.